"You mean it? We're not dysfunctional anymore?"
"I don't think we'll ever be normal, sweetheart," he said, laughing. "But we're the perfect kind of dysfunction."
She smiled. Past-Death leaned forward and kissed him hard, her warm lips pressing to his. Gabriel responded with some restraint, recalling how hesitant she'd been when they made love the first time. The sensations and world were still new to her, and he wasn't about to rush when they had an eternity to enjoy one another. Deepening the kiss, he slid his tongue between her lips and tasted her, his blood heating and racing through him at her sweet flavor.
The mating bond resonated inside him, stirring the ferocious need he'd been repressing around her, along with the protective, possessive compulsion to make her his again, to explore her body and its reactions to him until he knew them by heart. The time for restraint would be gone soon, and every fiber in his body sang in anticipation of claiming his mate.
"I did it again!" Deidre's exclamation reminded him of his surroundings.
With some regret, Gabriel withdrew from his mate and rested his temple against hers. Her breathing was uneven, the pliant body in his arms making him want to run away from the frozen world long enough to make love to her.
"You have to … fix this," she whispered. "Make sure the souls are okay."
"I know." He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "It might take me a while."
"I'm never going anywhere again, Gabriel."
The fierce determination on her face pulled a smile from him. "Good. Stick close to me. We've got to take care of a few things. Then, it's just you and me. We've got some making up to do."
She grinned. "As long as you're naked."
"Promise."
She laughed somewhat breathlessly.
He rose and pulled her to her feet. Hand-in-hand, they went the direction Deidre had gone. She'd awoken Tymkyn, who was getting to his feet, his dazed gaze taking in everything around him.
"You alive?" Gabriel asked, slapping him on the arm.
The small man nodded. He picked up his sword.
"Get to work. Every death dealer not allied with us loses his head. They should be easy pickins' while frozen."
Grimly, Tymkyn nodded. "Understood."
"Who'd you come up here with?"
"No one. Andre couldn't be moved from the dungeon. Karma was with me on the stairs and then … gone," Tymkyn explained.
Gabriel frowned at the news about Andre. "Before you start, go check on him."
"I'll go, too," past-Death said. "He was pretty badly injured."
Gabriel gave Tymkyn a long look and nodded towards his mate.